Split

Hospital

The ambulance turned up minutes after I'd gotten outside and the medics rushed in. They asked me how long he'd been there for and I told them that I'd found him like that. They asked who he was and I stumbled over my words before telling them his name was Kevin Crumb, knowing that they'd be asking for his actual name. I explained that he had DID and that I was his partner, and they exchanged a quick glance.
They checked his vitals and I heard them muttering between themselves. He had a pulse but it was weak, and one of them got the stretcher trolley from the back of the ambulance.
I followed everything they did, not knowing how to help but wanting to see everything that was going on.
They weren't going to let me ride in the back with him but when I argued they let me in, as long as I sat quietly and didn't get in the way.

We were almost to the hospital when the machines started to sound, "okay we've lost the pulse, his hearts stopped."

I stared at them helplessly as they tried to restart Kevin's heart, tears pouring down my face.
Please don't let him die... not because of him... the beast had already caused so much suffering and now he was going to take them away from me. I couldn't lose him. Not after everything.
The monitor he was connected to was making a lot of noise, noise that I didn't understand, it just sounded like panic.
I began to block everything out, the beeping, the sirens, the medics... all sound merged together as I gazed blankly at my dying friends.

They managed to get his heart going again, but it was slowing once more as they reached the hospital. They rushed him in and left me standing in the waiting room.
12:30am, in a hospital, on my own.

Was now a good time to let Susan know about all this...?
I dialed her number and she picked up immediately.
"Casey? Where are you? I looked in your room and-"

"I'm at the hospital."

"What? Why? Is everything-"

"I'm fine, it's Barry... look, I need to talk to you about something... you don't need to come out but..." I sighed, thinking of how I would explain this, deciding to miss out a few things, "Barry has DID; Dissociative Identity Disorder..."

"What? What is that?"

"It means he has more than one personality... his name is Kevin Crumb... Barry is one of Kevin's identities..."

"This is a joke, right? Are you recording me?"

"It's not a joke... he's slit his wrists... and... I don't know if he's going to make it..."

"Oh god, Casey... I don't know what to say... I'll be there in fifteen minutes, okay? Hang on."

"Okay, I'll see you soon," I hung up and held my phone tightly against my chest. This was going to be tricky to explain...

Susan turned up as soon as she could and hugged me as soon as she saw me, "Oh Casey, what happened?"

"I went by the house and I found him like that... I called the ambulance but they were already on the way, I guess someone else must have called them... his heart stopped in the ambulance."

"Oh that's awful... about his state of mind... what were you saying about personalities?"

"He has twenty three identities... Barry is just one of them."

She raised her eyebrows, "twenty three? Is that even possible?"
I nodded.
"Well, that's a lot to take in..." She frowned, "wait... is Barry gay?"

I blinked, wishing she hadn't figured that one out yet, "yes... I'm with another personality..."

She scratched her head, "I can barely keep up with one man, let alone twenty three..."

"There are women too."

"I'm not going to ask... where is he now?"

"They took him through there," I pointed to the door he went through, "I don't know what's going on."

"You stay there and I'll try and find out. I'll get you a drink. Just sit there, okay? You can tell me more when I get back," she walked off to the reception desk and left me sitting on the chair, hoping to hell that Kevin was stronger than everyone seemed to think he was.